A lot of comics are pure fantasy. They live in the crazed imagination of comic writers and artists and, while they can be very powerful, there’s not a lot of real life consequence to them.

Not so with SHOOTERS, a brand-new original graphic novel from Vertigo that’s in-stores April 18th. It’s a gripping tale that (unfortunately) has a lot of basis in reality. Written by Eric Trautmann and Brandon Jerwa and illustrated by Eisner-Award winning artist, Steve Lieber, it tells the story of one military contractor as he struggles to survive both the war in Iraq and the homefront in America. It’s a subject close to the heart of Eric and I’ll let his words speak for him.

An excerpt from his introduction about his brother-in-law, Dave:

Dave's unit was not scheduled to return to Iraq any time soon, and—after some initial rest, he embarked on an aggressive program of physical and martial fitness: exercise, running, pistol work.
 
After honing himself into the best shape he'd been in years, he hired on with a private military company, Blackwater, determined to go back to Iraq as soon as possible. Why? we asked him. His wife, Cindy, supported him but clearly had some trepidation, and Gabrielle fretted about it from time to time. His answer was typical: "My work there isn't done yet."
 
Dave's occasional letters home were filled with stories about how he'd connected with the locals, particularly the children he met. He spoke at length about working to improve things at the ground level -- building schools, repairing infrastructure, and so on. (No doubt, this appealed to him from his civilian profession as a master carpenter and contractor.) Often, his team would be called upon to supply medical assistance to locals in crisis; leave it to Dave to have a story about an emergency field amputation that was both horrifying and hysterically funny.
 
Why'd he go back? Dave's work just wasn't done yet, you see.

Peace (someday),

Will Dennis